Recreation area to encourage activity

By Steve Huffman / Times-News

Published: Wednesday, February 20, 2013 at 05:09 PM.

“We just want to increase outdoor time for all children,” Theall said.

The park was designed by architects with Natural Learning Initiative, which is associated with N.C. State University. According to the organization’s website: “The purpose of the Natural Learning Initiative is to promote the importance of the natural environment in the daily experience of all children, through environmental design, action research, education and dissemination of information.”

Officials with Alamance Alliance, the Alamance County Health Department and Alamance County Parks & Recreation have all expressed interest in the recreation facility. Support also comes from the Glencoe Mill Village.

Theall said she’s not sure when the facility will be finished. The path will be the first thing done. Theall said she’s hoping to solicit donations from area corporations to sponsor the stops along the path — with signs, for instance, telling visitors what businesses paid for the textile garden, rain garden or other stops.

Graham’s Living Landscapes was low construction bidder. On Wednesday, Vaughn Willoughby, the owner of the business, was overseeing the work. He said he’s done similar projects on a smaller scale for individuals — but never anything quite like this.

“We’re trying to save as many trees as possible,” Willoughby said. “We’re trying to get it cleared out and cleaned up.”

GLENCOE — Carrie Theall watched Wednesday as a backhoe and workers began clearing a wooded site not far from the old Glencoe mill.

“Oh, this is exciting,” she said. “We’ve been waiting a year to see this happen.”

Theall is executive director of Alamance Partnership for Children, the organization that oversees local Smart Start funding. The clearing taking place in Glencoe is for a recreation area — officially an “outdoor learning environment” — that’s being built not far from the offices of Alamance Partnership.

It’s sort of a playground, but so much more.

“It’s all about learning through play,” Theall said.

The facility is being built in part through a grant from Shape NC — a partnership of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina and the N.C. Partnership for Children. Shape NC is a three-year, $3-million endeavor intended to address childhood obesity.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield estimates that 31 percent of children between the ages of 2 and 4 are overweight or considered at risk of becoming overweight.

When it’s completed, the recreation area at Glencoe will help keep children active and, hopefully, give childcare providers from throughout the area ideas on how they might build similar stations at their own facilities.

The recreation area will include everything from a stump gathering circle for storytelling to a tunnel crawl and digging spot. A mini-amphitheater is part of the plans, as well as an adventure path. There will be a log bridge. The site’s entryway will be old-fashioned in appearance, designed to blend with the neighboring historic houses.

When finished, the facility will give children the chance to be children — playing while stimulating their minds.

“It’s sort of like a childcare center outside,” Theall said. “It’ll be a model learning center for other childcare providers.”

The facility’s layout will be graduated — beginning with an infants and toddlers area before moving to an area geared for young preschoolers. A spot serving older preschoolers will be at the end, where a path that leads through it all circles.

Theall said the facility will be open pretty much to anyone with children. Residents of Glencoe might want to walk down with their children while those from outside the area can drive in for some quality time with their young ones.

Childcare providers may want to bring their charges and take a look at what’s available, then model something based on what they’ve seen.

“We just want to increase outdoor time for all children,” Theall said.

The park was designed by architects with Natural Learning Initiative, which is associated with N.C. State University. According to the organization’s website: “The purpose of the Natural Learning Initiative is to promote the importance of the natural environment in the daily experience of all children, through environmental design, action research, education and dissemination of information.”

Officials with Alamance Alliance, the Alamance County Health Department and Alamance County Parks & Recreation have all expressed interest in the recreation facility. Support also comes from the Glencoe Mill Village.

Theall said she’s not sure when the facility will be finished. The path will be the first thing done. Theall said she’s hoping to solicit donations from area corporations to sponsor the stops along the path — with signs, for instance, telling visitors what businesses paid for the textile garden, rain garden or other stops.

Graham’s Living Landscapes was low construction bidder. On Wednesday, Vaughn Willoughby, the owner of the business, was overseeing the work. He said he’s done similar projects on a smaller scale for individuals — but never anything quite like this.

“We’re trying to save as many trees as possible,” Willoughby said. “We’re trying to get it cleared out and cleaned up.”